I regret buying Skin Detail Resource 3...
takezo_3001
Posts: 1,997
First off there is nowhere on the product page where it says that you need to have the entire series, due to the PA chopping them up between 3 different products as you are met with only numbers instead of the names of which specific type of skin zone it's representing! (The skin of the inner thigh, is vastly different than the back of the hand) so here I am faced with an incomplete numbering 51-66 meaning I have to purchase 1-50 as well!
I was under the impression that it was the third iteration and not a mandatory sequential purchase, furthermore, it led me to believe that the skin samples were to be applied to the various body parts such as the forearms/knees/buttocks/etc once loaded into the scene, but no; I'm not faced with the names for the body parts which the single skin samples represent, but anonymous, unrepresentative numbers in respect to the different body parts of which it should be applied...
It gets worse, every individual skin sample gets applied over the entire body, not just the proper locations, such as say, for example, the skin for the elbow gets applied over the entire body, same with the skin of the knuckles, and the face, it's totally the opposite for accurate body placement, therefore, defeating the entire purpose of collecting the various different body skin samples, so I suppose it doesn't matter that they're not properly named after all!
But why would you go through the trouble of painstakingly mapping out the different skin zones in the first place if you're just going to universally apply it all over the body anyway?!
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For me it would make more sense if DAZ 3D created a way easily change the layout of the surfaces and then carefully divide all the surfaces into surface zones that match all the different nuances of skin surfaces and then used procedural presets / scripts to general properly randomized skin materials for each of those zones and let you save the results if they were too your liking after all producing the skin materials may of been procedural but once you decide on a regular character you need to save the results. eg, look at all the surface zones you'd need just to do the fingers properly procedurally.
I was going to give it a try, I obtained a skin reference set to do so, but stopped when I was told though to re-divvy up the surfaces on DAZ models in effect causes DAZ Studio sees it as an entire new model and not just say a skin texture set you can share between different models. I'm thinking these newest CPUs/GPUs can easily procedurally define the pseudo-random skin-materials though, say, in 15 minutes. That includes colors and all of the skin materials. Not just those microdetail maps like you have bought.
Yeah, I could have used the included alphas to make my own UVs in ZBrush, but they're numbered and doesn't let you know just where on the say for example the arm the particular skin alpha goes, as there are several zones on the arm alone as well as the buttock, etc... My hope for DS5/G9 would be to have a full-body UV not just the arm/legs/body etc...
Good thing you avoided it, it's a waste of money as you have to buy the entire set which you're not made clear of!
Return it for a refund by submitting a help request.
Lol, way ahead of you, as it was uninstalled deleted and I JUST filled a ticket before I finished posting this thread! I wanted to include my review as well so others are properly informed!
Am I understanding the above enboldened correctly in that you wanted to apply the different skin types to different surfaces? Just go into the appropriate directory when selecting a texture for the base, glossy, etc... Nevertheless, you might still be disappointed by seams because from what I understand, this product is a resource for creating a skin set, which means they will need to be combined & edited with gradients in a photo/texture editing program. I don't think you can just slap the textures right from the product on to a figure and expect it to work.
I do find it rather odd that they don't have the texture zones properly identified as it can be a hassle trying to find out what goes where unless you're a dermatologist, have studied human histology, or have been competently making your own character skins long enough.
I bought the first one, and like many products, it's on the list of: "Must use this some day".
I'm now tempted to see what happens
The issue is that the wrong skin types are universally applied to the entire body instead of respecting certain zones... I have had certain products able to configure the UV to include the entire body maps not just the separate arms/legs/head/face etc... into the entire UV, I thought that is what this product would do via scripts while applying the proper skin types to their respective parts... I was woefully mistaken!
That is why I refunded this product as it is worthless as an in-program product, as there is no way of knowing which skin type is which and where it goes, completely defeating the purpose of even having the various skin types in the first place, it's pure laziness on the PAs part, plus, it is incomplete as it's only numbered 51-66, you'll need 1-50 for the complete skin!
Sure they have the names that correspond with the numbers for the alphas but it is still vague about where those skin types came from, such as with the arm as illustrated with the way this site has it mapped...
they have the names of the general area of the body, of several alphas listed that correspond with the numbers but there are several maps that make up the rest of the human body parts such as with the leg, which includes the inner thigh, top/bottom of the thigh, and shin/calf, that are not included as you need the entire product line to complete...
It would have been better to just have the textures properly mapped for a resource for ZBrush, not to be used in Daz studio as it defeats its own purpose by applying each specific skin map for the different body zones universally; for example, the skin for the face should not be applied all over the body; plus this isn't a complete product as you need version 1-2 for a complete product which makes this a pure cash grab as you need all alphas maps in order to fully map the body...
Well, you're gonna need to buy 2-3 for the full product unless the PA is holding off releasing version 4!
Right from the description. I'm not sure how you could read that and get it will apply tiling textures to just the knees
there are tiling textures meant to go over the entire body in the detail slot on the new pbr shader. additionally there are alphas to stick in your texturing program of choice (although I agree names for the alphas would have been nice)
the previous 2 products do not contain any alphas just the tiling detail textures primarily meant to go over the entire figure, so I don't see how they would be required in any way.
The numbering is the first clue as included in my pic that the maps within the program itself are inconsistent, (51-66) which means I need 1-50 for the complete product...
And as I said before I mistakenly thought that the product would be applied via a script to unify the body parts/skin maps into one UV because what would be the point of including specific individual skin maps being universally applied over the entire body when they are better suited in going to the correct body zones, remember, I could not have known how the in-program library would look unless I first purchased it...
Having, for example, a knuckle skin map applied universally over the entire body goes against the entire point of even having specific skin maps in the first place, so I incorrectly assumed it would have been applied logically through scripting... I now know better.
Also, it would have been better if they included the entire lot as numbered/named textures instead of even having it in the program itself!
For future reference, whenever you see a texture product specifically advertised as a "Merchant Resource", ALWAYS assume that its going to require some kind of editing on your part in order to make it work for your intended model's UV maps unless the product specifically states otherwise. The promo pics are a dead giveaway to me that this isn't something you just apply "as is" to a character model. Its pretty much the same thing with all of the merchant resource fabric textures in the store. You can apply them to any clothing model as is, but it won't look right without the added step of editing them to appropriately fit the UV map that they're being applied to.
Noted, however, it's not always the case as with the myriad of skin merchant resources... not including shader resources for clothing which is for the most part, independent of requiring multiple UV maps for the same figure as it is mostly shaders, not material settings specifically for Genesis 8.1 and the other characters... so with characters you need to apply the material over the entire character, not just the single body parts.
This is why this product is misplaced as you're applying the knuckle/face/buttock/elbow, etc skin across the entire figure, which makes no sense!
As I said before, this product would have been better served as a purely texture-based product to be used in conjunction with 3rd party software such as ZBrush, 3DS, Maya, etc... such as with Flippednormal's skin resources, the issue with this set again, is with the fact that the maps/alphas are not properly named, either in the product's library or the texture folder itself!